


Another (Short) Coffee Shop AU

by z8e9k9e



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: AkuRoku Day, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 21:00:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20234290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/z8e9k9e/pseuds/z8e9k9e
Summary: “Oh you doubt me?” he grinned.“...Yes?”“We’ll see.”Axel takes a visit to his local coffee shop to see his favorite barista.





	Another (Short) Coffee Shop AU

Coffee shops felt like one of the most pretentious, stuck up places Axel always found himself in. Awkward first dates, teenagers littering outside and holding up the line inside, the drive thru always just at the worst angles for any car he’d drive through. Don’t even get him started on the writers there with their dreams of being a bestseller. Don’t even get him started on the atmosphere music. But most of all, the baristas. 

Specifically one barista in particular that also happened to not be working that day. To Axel, how _ dare _ he. To everyone else, not a care in the world. That’s what ticked him the most. The people that come and go, they don’t even start their order with  _ ‘hello.’ _ They’re the worst ones in Axel’s eyes, to be honest. Always demanding, never even showing an ounce of kindness. One of Axel’s worst fears was just one stupid  _ Karen _ to ruin his favorite barista’s day and have him end up quitting on the spot. But each and every day this barista wasn’t there, a different barista was.

“Hey Ax!” Demyx chimed as the lanky redhead entered the shop. Soft brown lights from every other bulb was lit as normal, facing towards frames on the walls, product displays, and various seats littered around the cafe. For a Tuesday morning, it seemed just as busy as he expected. The caffeine rush normally took place on Mondays, leaving the rest of the week just busy enough to hear his own thoughts. Though, he would be sure to leave before the nearby high school let out. Now  _ that _ was always a nightmare. He couldn’t even imagine how the workers felt.

“Hey, Demyx, how’s it going?” Axel greeted the blonde, though, not his preferred blonde. 

“Pretty alright. Not too busy, as you can see,” the eccentric adult gestured out to the crowd that seemed to be just slightly smaller since Axel had walked in. “Shift is ‘bout halfway over too,” he finished with a groan. Axel cracked a laugh. 

“Got a big date or something?” he joked. Demyx nodded.

“Yeah, actually! Cute blonde, you mighta seen him before, goes by Roxas?” Demyx joked and Axel leaned over to swat at his arm just hard enough for him to feel it for a second. “Ow, ok ok! I’m kidding, but you shoulda seen your face!” he laughed out. Axel took a shy glance around and saw a few people took interest in their conversation.

“Ugh, is he working today anyways?” 

“You’ve been here for all of two minutes, just hold your horses. Now are ya gonna order something or do I gotta kick you out for perving on my coworkers?”

“Oi, I’m not-” he groaned out. “I’ll have the usual, thanks,” he said as he pulled his matte black grande sized cup out of his bag. It took one eavesdrop of a conversation to hear how concerned his favorite blonde was for the environment and needless to say, since then Axel was cautious of what he threw away rather than recycled. Demyx tapped around on the POS screen and took the cup and stuck a white sticker to the side. 

“Five o-five,” he said before Axel put his card in the chip reader. After the beep, he removed his card and headed down to the counter at the end of the line to sit. To his right was where the drinks were set to be picked up. He sat in the middle of the counter. It sort of acted like a bar. It allowed anyone sitting here to mindlessly watch the baristas work and it gave the customers easy access to chat as they blended and mixed drinks together. 

He watched Demyx talked to a couple more customers in line before he worked on some of the drinks that Xion, another barista, had already started working on. Axel never worked in fast food or with coffee in his life, but he knew some of the orders just by watching. Frappuccinos always looked the same to him, though. Unless they were bright green, pink, or white. The drizzle of caramel or chocolate answered whatever guess he had at the end. His black cup was next in line. Xion took a brief glance at the acronyms on the white sticker before beginning on his order. Iced Mocha with another shot. Strong, but just sweet enough to make the drink taste just right. Every once in a while if he had a sweet tooth, he’d order a white chocolate without the shot. As he watched the preparation of his order, he briefly wondered if that’s what he should have gotten. However, the sight of blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes was sweet enough for his eyes. 

Roxas walked out from the large hinged door at the opposite end of the shop where the product was kept and the dishes were washed, he presumed. His apron was a little crooked and pins adorned the entire left corner in all sorts of colors. His hair a mess as always, but it had a flow that had a purpose. Upon the blonde entering Axel’s view, he could see in front of him Demyx wiggling his eyebrows for only Axel to see. Axel raised his hand and flipped him off. 

“Oh, I see our morning is just peachy,” Roxas said with a bump to Demyx’s shoulder. 

“Huh?” the taller blonde looked down at his coworker. Axel realized what his gesture might have looked like.

“Oh, no-- I--” he stumbled with his words. “Demyx was just being an ass, that wasn’t for you,” he forced out a laugh. It helped. Roxas’ smile adjusted Axel’s own from a forced one to a real one.

“Oh I’m not surprised. Just let me know if it’s too much and I’ll send him on dish duty,” he ended with a wink. Thank god the chair Axel was in had a back to it unlike the rest of the cafe because he would have fallen over by now. Or months ago. 

“Well, now that little Roxie is here, I’m assigning him to your order, Mr. Rude,” Demyx passed the matte cup over from Xion to Roxas, which was only filled with ice. The drink was still being made from the espresso machine. Xion didn’t mind, she continued on with her business and prepared for the next couple of orders.

Roxas poured milk into the espresso as well as a couple pumps of chocolate and mixed them together before pouring over the ice in Axel’s cup.

“Too bad it’s black. Can’t misspell my name on it, huh?” Axel ended his lame joke with an equally lame laugh. Roxas though, genuinely laughed. 

“Oh you doubt me?” he grinned.

“...Yes?” 

“We’ll see.” 

Before Roxas added the perfect swirl of whipped cream on top, a sharpie was produced out of his pocket and the cup was held at an angle to not spill the drink but also so Axel couldn’t see. The cup was carefully placed in front of Axel and he immediately turned it around to see… nothing.

“Ah ah ah, drink first.” Axel gave Roxas a confused look before he shrugged it off and ate at the whipped cream before his lid was screwed on. 

“Whatever you say, sweetcheeks,” he mumbled around the straw. Axel couldn’t see it, but the soft blush adorning Roxas’ face thankfully also didn’t catch any notice from the next customer he was ringing up.

For the next hour or so that Axel sat there, the shop eventually did become just a tad busier than he expected. School wasn’t let out for another couple of hours still, but he found some usuals chattering to their friends around the store. Some he’d never seen in his life. He did see a group of girls sitting across in the lounge chairs near the restrooms eyeing him almost suggestively. If this was his first time in, he’d gladly take the offer to join them and spark conversation. But, alas, it wasn’t and as they enjoyed their eye candy, he enjoyed his own behind the counter. 

Roxas worked diligently, yet, just slightly clumsy enough. Axel found it cute all around. Sometimes a spill would slip around the cup and onto the counter. Other times the first pump of vanilla would come out at just the right angle to miss the cup. Or maybe Roxas didn’t hold it close enough. Either way, Roxas never seemed bothered by any of his slight mishaps and it wasn’t anything for his coworkers to worry about either. Who doesn’t get a little clumsy at work anyways? Things happen that can’t be avoided, after all. 

Something that also couldn’t have been avoided was the obvious staring from Axel. Roxas might not have noticed, but every once in a while, Demyx blocked Axel’s view and laughed out at Axel’s automatic reaction to tilt his head to the side. Roxas glanced over whenever Demyx was making any obnoxious noises and only received a louder laugh from the blonde. A further glance over to Axel and with a blink, the redhead was pulled out of his mini trance and shrugged it off. 

It neared Demyx’s break by the way he sauntered over to Axel from around the bar as if he owned the place and plopped himself right down beside the other. 

“So… what’d he write?” he asked. Axel turned the cup around and shrugged. The drink was gone, he could see the faint outline of a black marker, but it was easily lost in the black of the cup. Demyx rolled his eyes and held his hand out. Axel placed the cup in his awaiting hand and watched as the other held the cup up at a weird angle. A sly grin appeared on his face. 

“Uh huh… Look at you, moving forward, uh… Alex?” He raised a brow. Axel snatched the cup out of his hand and held it at a similar angle to the light as the other did. There was his name misspelled, “Alex” along with what seemed to be a 10 digit number. His eyes scanned the small workspace for his crush. He was around the corner, not much in view from where Axel sat, taking orders from the drive-thru window. He hummed to himself as he pulled his phone out and entered the number in and named it. 

“Damn, wish it was that easy for me,” he pouted. Axel reached out and gingerly patted his friend’s shoulder. “Hey, you wish you had these good looks huh?” he winked and flashed him his million dollar smile. Demyx bumped his shoulder at the other.

“Yeah right! Looks like it only works for one guy and he’s not my type,” he said with his tongue out in disgust. The gentle pats on his shoulder turned into one offended pat. 

“Hey, rude.”

“Isn’t that your name?” Demyx laughed. Axel shook his head and stood to push his chair in.

“Yeah yeah. I gotta go. Got a potential date to prep for,” he said with a wink and headed to the door. Bright red bouncing across his peripheral took Roxas’ attention and he watched as Axel waved at him with a wink and left. Not too long after, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

_ “Shoulda doubted you weeks ago if this is what I get ;) -Alex” _

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on something akuroku for months now and it's going through a major edit. I wish I could have posted the first chapter of that today, but I don't wanna leave yet another unfinished work here so here's a little sweet something for akuroku day :)


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